D2U is Backcountry magazine “direct to you”
An optional service for our members
D2U is an optional service, which is only available to people who are already an FMC member as a result of paying the FMC membership fee through their club subscription. (Find an FMC affiliated club near you.)
D2U is especially relevant for larger clubs where the logistics and costs of onward distribution of Backcountry and discount cards to members are more challenging.
If you are eligible, and sign up to D2U, we will post your Backcountry magazine “direct to you”.
D2U costs $20 per year, and you’ll receive;
- The next 4 issues of Backcountry magazine posted directly to your New Zealand address.
D2U Frequently asked questions
If you have questions which aren’t answered here, please contact us.
The aim is to provide equitable options for all of the 20,000+ members of FMC affiliated clubs to access our flagship publication and the discounts we’ve worked hard to negotiate.
The challenges faced by many clubs during lockdown had us reflecting carefully on our systems and the way we support our clubs. We realised some clubs were struggling with distribution, and many FMC members did not have access to Backcountry.
We reflected on feedback about rising costs and the effort involved for volunteers, which has placed strain on clubs that distribute Backcountry via post, rather than bringing them to club nights for pick up. And for clubs which do not have the resources or energy for distribution, their members do not have access to Backcountry at all.
D2U provides options to alleviate these issues, using the opportunities of scale available to FMC; such as bulk discount for postage, automated distribution, online membership systems and professional staff members. The adapted system is more administratively efficient for FMC, freeing resources we can re-assign to support our mission.
D2U is not intended to replace or compete with club distribution, and we anticipate it will not change anything for most clubs. The purpose is to provide an option for some of our club members who, for whatever reason, don’t currently receive Backcountry, but would like to.
There is no change to affiliation fees, because FMC is not changing any of the entitlements for magazines to FMC clubs. As before, your club chooses the number of these items, (up to the number of members declared/paid for to FMC) which we send in bulk to your club.
The fee simply covers the additional cost to FMC of producing, printing, inserting in envelopes, addressing and posting four issues of Backcountry individually to a club member.
It is important to remember that D2U is an optional service. It is priced only to cover the additional cost, not to supplement or replace affiliation fees from clubs: these remain vital to FMC achieving its advocacy mission! In contrast, the current club affiliation fees include a portion which covers distribution in bulk to clubs, which cost a tiny fraction of distributing them individually.
D2U is not intended to replace or compete with club distribution, and we anticipate it will not change anything for most clubs. The purpose is to provide an option for some of our club members who, for whatever reason, don’t currently receive Backcountry, but would like to.
We would expect that most clubs will have decided if they wish to distribute Backcountry to their members. If so, the club will have a way to determine how many of their members want a magazine, and have a system in place to accommodate that interest.
So if your club is already distributing Backcountry, then the members who are receiving it will have no reason to sign up to D2U. Conversely, members who are not currently getting Backcountry, but would like to, could ask the club to declare more members, and then sign up to D2U without needing to affect your club’s system.
D2U is priced only to cover the additional cost, not to supplement or replace affiliation fees from clubs: these remain vital to FMC achieving it’s advocacy mission!
There’s lots of ways! Check out how on the Backcountry magazine info page.
There are many publications which are suitable to be digital only, but in our opinion, Backcountry is not one of them. It’s about preserving the longevity, quality and reach of FMC’s messaging.
The compelling reason to retain a printed version is so that it continues to feature in hut libraries. They are read over and over, by exactly the people whose support and membership we need. The life of a single printed issue could be years; whereas a digital version will be archived once (if) read and probably never read again. Certainly not by anyone but the intended recipient.
The longevity and reach of the publication is attractive to contributors, who will spend more time creating higher quality content in the knowledge it will be read more. This in turn is more attractive to magazine advertisers, ensuring the magazine contributes to its own costs of publication. Altogether, it ensures that Backcountry keeps the very high standard that readers have come to expect.
Since 2009, an electronic version of Backcountry has been made available on the FMC website. The e-version of the previous issue is released when the printed copies of the new issue are distributed. When COVID19 threw a spanner in the works of clubs distributing the March 2020 issue, FMC put the issue online immediately. Website analytics showed a spike in interest, but the additional visitation amounted to less than 5% of the number of printed Backcountry which are distributed each issue. This clearly shows that the vast majority of our members who value Backcountry prefer to read it in print.
To find out more about FMC’s reasons to keep printing Backcountry, have a read of editor Peter Laurenson’s article Sustainable in print.
Unfortunately not. D2U is priced and intended for NZ resident addresses. If you still wish to receive Backcountry and a discount card, you can sign up as an overseas Individual Supporter .